Not Completely Alone
by liveinthetwilight
Summary: **A Midnighters Fanfiction** What happened that midnight when Melissa and Rex finally found Dess? What did they do the days and nights after? How did Dess feel? What I think happened. Dess's perspective. Hope you enjoy! My first fanfiction. Please review!
1. The Coming

I sat on my bed's black comforter, waiting for the blue time to come. It seemed to take longer these days, what with me waiting all the time. I glaced over at the clock again. 11:57. Great. Only a little over two minutes left. Probably about two minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Wonderful.

I double checked my room and went over the list in my mind. Thirteen tacks on the window sill. Check. Thirteen paper clips on the door frame. Check. Psychotically Authoritative Manipulations, my spear. Check. Thirteen linked braclets. Check. Thirteen linked anklets. Check. Thirteen, twenty-six, thirty-nine linked neclaces. Check. Everything seemed in order. Extraordinary. Normally I wasn't this ready. Tonight's midnight was going to be good.

I was starting to get jumpy. I peered at the clock _again_. 11:59. Fourty-three seconds left. Finally. I stood up and grabbed Manipulations. It's steel bands that wrapped around the metal staff felt ice cold against my skin. I walked as slowly as possible to the window and opened it. I was willing it not to make a noise. The rustly metal could not help but making a sharp, high pitched noise. It made me want to tear out all my hair and scratch out my ears.

The wind outside stopped abruptly. The animals creeping along the badlands stopped moving. My music stopped playing. I jumped at the quietness. Even though I had lived here for a couple months I had still not gotten used to how all the noise just _stopped_. Everything had turned blue, the color sucked out of everything by the big moon. I slid out the window, careful not to knock off the tacks on my window sill.

Other than a pair of black shorts, I was wearing a black leather jacket, black combat boots, and all my protective jewelry. My hair was pulled back in a low pony-tail. I was trying to grow it back out since my mom had cropped it short before we'd moved. I didn't grab my dark sunglasses, though. I would be back home way before it got bright again. The sun wouldn't come up for another six hours, for me that is. It would only be five hours for all the other people in Bixby, Oklahoma.

I, Desdemonia, was alone in this blue world. Well, besides the some big, old creatures that could change shape according to your fears and some snake-type things that could either fly or live on the ground. The snake-thing's bites left aweful bruises that stayed there for longer than a normal bruise you got by bumping into something or getting hit.

I walked to the driveway and hopped on my bike. It was sure to get me out of this place faster than on foot. As I rode across the silent dirt roads, I tried to steer clear of all the dust devils. There wouldn't be as many once I got into the middle of the town. The rising moon was a dark purple when I looked up. It was barely risen, so I had some time to spare. I didn't quite know what I was going to do in this midnight and was not even sure why I was going to the middle of town.

I heard a loud roar-like scream coming from somewhere behind me.

"Great." I whispered; I could have said it a lot louder, though. Nobody would hear me anyways... I turned around, still on the old bike. When I reached the top of my arc, I stopped and put one foot on the ground. The creature I now faced was changing shape. I knew what it would change into, even though it was still in the process... It finished after a short minute. It now took the form of a wolf. I shuddered at the large creature. I had reasons to be afraid of it... I wish I didn't though. When my family had first moved to Oklahoma, I had wondered off into the woods near our house. There, at night time, the wolves had come out and I had been attacked. I had been afraid of them since.

I crawled off my bike as silently as possible. Manipulations held tight in my hands. I brought it up to my lips.

"Psychotically Authoritative Manipulations." I stared down at the spear and giggled at a funny thought. _Psychotically Authoritative Manipulations,_ I thought. _Abbreviate the words and you get "PAM." _I giggled again. I normally realized random things like that. It was just something that I did! That, and I was a total math wiz.

I tensed myself, getting ready to attack. I raised Manipulations so it was at an level to my eyes. This thing wouldn't take care of itself. It was my job to take care of it.


	2. Fight

I edged closer to the creature that was trying to kill me. It was about to leap on to me. So I prepared myself to spring. The beast was practically a mirror image of me. Well, it would have been if it was anywhere close to a human. Or whatever I was or had become...

The giant wolf jumped. I screamed as I flung Manipulations at its throat. Hopefully, with enough luck and skill, it would hit its mark. I could only hope.

Manipulations sliced right into the large animal's throat. I threw my fist in the air.

"Yes! One hit only! Oh yeah!" I rejoiced. I forgot to look back at the wolf. Big mistake. Oops... The wolf lifted it paw and brought it down towards me. I looked up just in time to dive out of the way, well, as much as I could in the little amount of time that I had.

One of it's large claws slashed across my left eye. It triggered my reflexes; I grabbed the paw and held on tight. It tried to pull itself away from me. I kept holding on. It hurt as the claws dug into my body.

I winced as one pierced my leg. Tears began to stream down my face. The wolf was swinging its paw around in the air. As it neared its neck I let go of it and jumped to grab Manipulations. I twirled through the air, and grabbed the spear that was jutting out of the beast's throat. I swung from it for a few seconds. With my good leg, I kicked where the spear connected with skin and fur, trying to get away from this creature. I flew off of it, still gripping Manipulations to my body.

The dirt covered street flew towards me faster than I expected. I wasn't quite ready for it.

I hit the ground; I heard the air go out of my lungs with a _whoosh_. I had a large pain in my head. _Did I hit it?_ I thought. _Of course I did._

I tried to lift my head from the ground. I had it about two inches away from the dirt when I found that I could not see. There was a swarm of darkness around me. No stars were in sight. Only a sky of pitch black.

The last thing I heard was a ear splitting screech.


	3. New People?

"Ew. That's a nasty one." Someone, or some_thing_, touched my leg where the gash was. "Oh, Cowgirl, what are we going to do to her?"

Do?! _What are they going to _do to_ me? Who _are_ they?_ I worried. I thought it was still the blue time. I couldn't have been out _that_ long. And I was pretty sure I was alone. At least that was what I _thought_. I wasn't? Was I? All this thinking made my head hurt. I must have hit it _really_ hard. Normally this little thinking was a breeze! Ow. It started hurting again.

"Come on, Rex. We know she can't be real. We're all alone in midnight!" The girl's voice was like ice down my spine, like when I got bit by one of those snake-things... But at least our views were similar.

"Melissa. She _has_ to be real. What else could she be? A darkling? A slither? Something new that we found that isn't in the lore?" This Rex dude sounded smart. I just hoped he wouldn't be all bossy, if he was real, that is. In the back of my mind I hoped he was real. I was tired of being alone here. With only the "darklings"--the shape-shifting creatures?--and the "slithers"--the snake-like things?--as company. Not that either of them were company. All they did was attack you.

"Rex, just shut up and help her!" There goes the ice again... She continued her tirade. "You know I can't do that myself. And I guess, maybe, just maybe, she could be real." It sounded like she didn't want me to be real. Oh well. I _am_ real, even if this Melissa person did not want me here!

Someone, Rex probably, was cleaning out the big scratch that stretched across my shin. I flinched.

"Is she awake?!" It's like he did not expect me to come to it! Did he want me to be dead? I knew Melissa did.

I opened my eyes slowly, and took in my surroundings. The first thing I saw was a boy that looked about a year older than me, 13 or 14 maybe? He was outfitted in all black, just like me. He had inky black hair, like he had dyed it himself, that was reletively short.

I looked just above him to see the setting purple moon. I, no wait, _we_, probably had about eleven minutes left before everything unfoze. The boy, Rex, moved and caught my attention. He looked up to see what I was looking at. Just the moon. Nothing to freak out about. His normally dark green eyes flashed purple. _Was that what mine did? _The creature's eyes were just a blank purple. They didn't change when they looked at the moon! Not that they did when they were distracted by prey...

The girl, Melissa I reminded myself, had the same colored black hair. Were they related? Probably not. Her's was shoulder-length and was the slightest bit layered. She had warm brown eyes that didn't seem to go with her voice, much less complexion. They were both pale white, like they did not get enough sun. I could not stop staring at them. They were strange looking. But we had something in common. Was this what I looked like to other people? What with my pale skin and grey-ish eyes? Then again I did not dye my hair black. It was naturally light brown. Dying my hair black with no help would be--

"Are you done staring?" Melissa sounded like she wanted to feed me to a... oh, what was it called? A darkling! She had pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, I--I'm sorry." I tryed to stand up. Needless to say, I fell right back down. I felt a sharp pain in my leg. Of course. Why did I try to get up when I knew about that? Now _that_ was a mystery. Maybe it wasn't. My head was the cause of it.

"Yeah, it might be a good idea if you don't try to stand right now. It also might be good if we all go inside or at least get under some cover. You probably should not get dust in that thing," he said as he pointed to my clawed out leg.

"That would probably be a good idea... But how am I going to get there?" I pointed to the shed behind my small house. "It's about, hm..." I studied the distance between me and the shed, ignoring the pain in my head, "maybe 27.325 meters anyway." I looked back at Rex who shared a staggered look with Melissa.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" They were really confusing me. Was this going to be me after however long they have been in this blue hour? Rex turned back to me with an open mouth. He only muttered one word. Well, that plus a couple studders.

"P-p-polymath." Now, it was my turn to stare at him with my mouth open like an idiot.

"Huh? What? Huh?" My gaze could not stay on either of them for even half a second.

"Oh, well, come on. Let's get you over there and then I'll explain." Rex held his hand out with a smile. I took it and he pulled me up. I put my arm around his neck as he supported my hurt leg. Together we hobbled over to the shed with Melissa followed far behind us. I wondered what was up with her...


	4. Explanations

Rex sat me down on the dirt covered floor inside the shed. The little movement that I did caused me to breathe heavily. The scratches all over my body ached. I brought my hand up to my face. I felt a warm, sticky liquid. When I brought it back, so I could see it clearly, I saw it was covered in blood. Scars were going to start showing up when they healed...

"I do not think we ever caught your name."

"Oh, sorry. I am Desdemona. But everyone calls me Dess, short for decimal." Rex nodded.

"I see. Polymath, definitely." I looked at him and raised an eye brow. "Oh, we'll explain later."

"So... This is really confusing. Why are you here, in the blue hour?" Rex and Melissa exchanged another weird look.

"The 'blue hour'? You call this the blue hour?" It was Rex's turn to be confused. "That's not a bad name for it, actually," he added.

I stared at him. "Why? What do you call it?"

"Midnight. And we're Midnighters." The boy smirked.

"Yeah, and apparently _you're_ one, too." Melissa rolled her eyes. Ugh, what was her issue?!

"_My_ issue is that you are here. In me and Rex's hour." Whoa. Can she read my mind or something? "Yes, actually, I can." She smiled an evil smile.

Uh oh. I tried to crawl away from her. I only ended up toppling over a shovel handle and hitting my head on a roll of thin metal wire.

"Ow." I rolled over, trying to stand up. Dirt smeared all over my blood-covered leg, in the gaping hole. "Oh!" I collapsed back on the dirt. I already had dirt in it, so it wouldn't really do any difference if I got a little more in it. Rex grabbed the tops of my arms and pulled me up.

"That might not be such a good idea." I stared at him in confusion. "Getting dirt in your leg?" The corners of his lips curled up.

I laughed, but it came out more struggled. The dirt lodged itself in my throat; I gagged. Rex slapped my back. After a minute or two, I regained my voice. It was still raspy, but I could talk none the less.

"So," I coughed, "what's with this whole midnight thing?" I could not stop coughing.

"Well, you probably know all about it. How long have you been here, being in midnight?"

"Oh, well maybe a little over two months..."

"Wow. I wonder why we couldn't find you."

"Yeah, I wonder why," Melissa coated her voice with sarcasm. I fixed my face in the most angered look that I could manage at the moment.

"Look, I'm sorry to be pushy, but can you just tell me what I need to know?" Melissa stepped just outside the door of the shed and looked up. Rex and I both turned to watch her. Her eyes flashed the dark purple that belonged to the moon. She walked slowly back into the shed and leaned against the opposite wall of me. The girl took something that looked like a wire out of her pocket and shoved it in her ears. They must have been head phones.

"And here come the minds..." Melissa muttered. I transfixed Rex with a stupefied gaze.

"When all the stiffs wake up Melissa can hear all of their thoughts. She'll go insane if she doesn't have the head phones." He shrugged. Yeah, like she could go even more insane.

She turned and glared at me. If looks could kill was the first phrase that came into my mind. The second one? The bitch goddess.

I simply smiled as if nothing had happened. My head jerked upward.

All the color had come back into the world. The wolves continued to howl. I shivered at all the memories. Meanwhile, Rex turned to Melissa who looked at him.

_We are going to have to avoid the cops on the way back,_ He mouthed. Melissa nodded to the beat of her overly loud rock music. He put glasses over his eyes.

"Okay. Can you just tell me how you killed that... _darkling_? And how long I was out of it? It must have been a while since the blue hour--midnight--is already over."

"Oh, that. It was pretty easy with two of us!" I rolled my eyes. _Please not be one of those guys who is a total show off,_ I willed him with my mind. I could tell Melissa was staring at me. I rolled my eyes, again. Tonight was definitely an eye rolling night. Rex pressed on.

"We heard the noises that the darkling was making and rushed over here as fast as we could. Saw you knocked out. Grabbed your spear and attacked the darkling. Of course we didn't know what it was called so--"

"You know that my weapons are named?" I interrupted.

"Yeah, of course, it is in the lore. Why would you think that we didn't know it would not have a name that was a tridecalogism?"

"A tre-deck-ligism?"

"Tri-deca-lo-gism. A thirteen letter word for a thirteen letter word." Something clicked in my head.

"Oh, yeah. That's right. The... darklings don't like the number thirteen!"

"Not just the number thirteen," Rex continued. He was smart. I guess I was, too, but in a different way. "Darklings do not like numbers at all. But if they do have one number that they aren't afraid of, then it's the number twelve."

"Twelve? Why twelve? Is there something significant about it?" Rex stared at me with a look of amusement. "Oh, well, besides the fact that it is the number before thirteen..." Rex chuckled at me; I forced a smile. Barely even fifteen minutes and I was already then clown. No, I was just new to this whole group thing, at least in the blue hour, that is. Melissa laughed. It sounded strangled. Rex looked at her, puzzled. I didn't turn and glare at her. I didn't need to give her the satisfaction of her tries to annoy me.

I yawned, Rex turned back to me involuntarily.

"You must be tired."

"No, not really," I lied. I tried to suppress a yawn. Why did my body have to betray me?

"That fight must have really used your energy up." I was still trying not to let the yawn out. All I could do was nod. He laughed at me. "Just let it out. You're tired. You have nothing to hide." I smiled, covered my mouth while I yawned.

"Thanks. That was making my head throb. But I really do not think that I can even walk."

"Oh. Well, if you think you can make it to school, go. But if you can't then just stay home!" He sounded so convincing. It would take a lot of effort to get my mom to go for it, though. Melissa smirked behind me.

"Wait," I noticed something. "I think I recognize you, now. You go to my school."

"About time you got a brain." I ignored her sarcasm.

"Yes, actually, we do go to the same school. But I really think that you should stay home for tomorrow. You don't look so well." Now, that I believed. I forced a slight smile in his direction.

"Can you just help me in my room? But we have to go through the window…" I felt kind of bad making him help me.

"Okay." I wanted to ask him a lot of questions. Why we were all like this. Why nobody else was able to get into midnight. "We'll come by tomorrow night again. Meet you at midnight. Just be ready. Leave your window unlocked, though. We do not want to have to break in." He chuckled.

I lifted my arms up to him as he stood up and dusted himself off. He grabbed my hands and pulled me up. I slung my left arm around his shoulders, my right waved in the air for balance. He placed his arm around my waist for support. Melissa gritted her teeth. Did the two have something going on? A sudden intake of air behind me made me peer at Melissa. Her jaw was locked tight. She looked as though she wanted to kill me.

Together, Rex and I made our way out of the shed and into the hot, sticky breeze. I pointed with my free hand to my window. We hobbled over to it, making slow progress. The small window was still open from when I climbed out of it at the beginning of the blue hour. Rex leaned me against the brick wall and climbed in. When he was barely visible, he stretched out his hands to me. I grabbed them and stuck my bad leg in the window, followed by my good leg. I was sitting on the sill, careful of the tacks, when the door to my room banged open.


	5. Surprises

Rex pulled me the rest of the way in; I knocked off a single tack. I had twelve tacks on my window sill. Darklings, as he had said.

I scrambled to the floor and tried to find the lost tack. I pricked my finger on something and picked it up. It was the tack. I set it back where it belonged, and looked at the extra person in the room.

My mother stood in the center of the door frame. I gasped. Her eyes looked me over, taking in the scratches and gashes. I looked at her with blood shot eyes. She was staring at me with an agape mouth.

"Mom," I tried to speak.

"No, Desdemona. No. Don't talk. You will explain this to me in the morning. Now go get a shower and wash out those disgusting cuts of yours." She would not understand if I tried to explain. "And who is this?" she exclaimed as she took in Rex and his shadow.

"I am Rex, ma'am." He stepped forward and took mom's hand, shook it. I stared at him in surprise. Wow. "Pardon me if I am intruding, but your daughter is hurt very badly. She got in a bike accident." Good twist on the truth, Rex! I would have to congratulate him on that when we got out of this. "She fell into some bad bushes. I think Dess said it was a cactus or two." He looked at me with his piercing eyes, and urged me to agree.

"Ah, yes. They hurt very badly. Luckily, Rex heard me cry out for help, and he came to my rescue." I looked at mom expectantly.

"I see. Well, there will be no punishment. You just need to clean up those cuts." She nodded in the direction of the shower.

"Yes, ma'am." I said as I limped out of my room. I turned around the corner and stopped, intent on listening.

"Now, boy."

"Rex."

"Yes, Rex. Where is your house?"

"Down more near to the middle of town."

"We don't want you to get arrested now do we? You can stay here for the night if you like." I imagined Rex nodding.

"I would love that. But to tell the truth, my sister"—a lie?—"came to help, as well. Do you think she could stay, too?"

"That would be fine." Rex probably leaned out the window and yelled.

"Melissa! Come in here!" There was a noise from my window and some small, muffled clicks. They had better put my tacks back up there.

I struggled into the bathroom, not needing to hear anymore. I undressed and stepped into the shower and turned the water on. There seemed to only be cold water. Wonderful. As the water ran down my body I winced. My cuts burned. I wanted to scratch everything off my skin, but that would only cause more scratches.

I hurriedly washed my hair. I grabbed the wash cloth and got some soap on it. I softly touched the gash on my leg. I whimpered at the sting. I carefully brushed the towel across my scratches, tears pounding against my eyelids.

I rinsed out my hair and the cuts, the stinging continuing. When I was done rinsing, I turned off the water. Stepping out the shower I wrapped myself in a towel. I dried off and grabbed a pair of dirty shorts and a black tank-top and stepped into them.

Hair parted and air drying, clothes on; I stepped out of the bathroom. In the small living room Rex was lying on the couch staring at the ceiling. Melissa was in the recliner in a position much like Rex's. I leaned on the corner of the wall and crossed my arms.

"Hey, Rex, Melissa." I nodded towards him. He and Melissa both jerked their heads to face me. "Thanks for saving me, I guess, and for getting me out of that situation with my mom." I bit my lip and smiled crookedly.

"No problem," he said as he sat up.

"I do have one question before tomorrow, or in the morning, that I need to ask…."

"What is it, Dess?"

"Um," I hoped for the best. "What happened to my bike?"

He frowned. "It got squashed by the darkling."

"Oh."

"We're sorry." I was surprised to hear the words come out of the bitch goddess's mouth. "Well, I don't have to be sorry if you don't want me to. Rex could be sorry alone." She was still leaning back. I wish I could see her eyes right now. She looked up at me just on cue. I would have to be careful when I was around her. Her eyes betrayed nothing. She was telling the truth. She was sorry. Probably just because if they wanted me to go anywhere with them I would have to ride the handle bars of her or Rex's bike. I could tell that she hated doing that herself.

"Thanks, Melissa." I smiled at her.

"Now, go get some sleep. You look like you need it." I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to muffle my laughter.

"What?"

"You just"—gasp—"sounded like"—hysteric laughter—"my _mom_." I burst out laughing, no longer able to hide it anymore. Rex joined in. Melissa smiled. Once we stopped laughing I decided that I would follow his advice. I really did need some sleep.

"Night, Rex. Night, Melissa." I laughed a little.

"Night, Dess," they said in unison. I smiled at them, and turned to limp to my room.

I crawled into bed, keeping the comforter away from the biggest gash. I closed my eyes and thought about everything.

Maybe what happened tonight wasn't all that bad…


	6. Jealous?

Ok, so hey people! Look... I'm really sorry for not updating for a while! Oh what was it? Like four months? Wow. That's a long time! Well, my load from school and stuff has gotten easier and my writing block is gone! Lot's of inspiration from stuff... Hope you like this! Really! Please R&R!!! I really want to know what you think of this chapter! It took me... Not too long but I'm getting back in the swing of writing. If you want me to keep updating, then tell me what you think! You guys are what keep me writing!  
~Liveinthetwilight

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I woke up to the bright sunlight coming from my open window. The light was visible from behind my eye lids. My hands fumbled around on my night stand, trying to find my sunglasses. I found them and shoved them on my face.

When I opened my eyes, I could see that no one had remembered to close my window. I threw the covers off me and stood up. Immediately, I crumpled to the floor.

I looked at my legs, saw the gigantic gash, and remembered what happened at midnight. I ran my hand lightly along the length of the cut.

"Still in shock?" The voice made me jump. I looked to the door frame. Rex was leaning against the side of it, outfitted in the same black trench coat, black t-shirt, and black skinny jeans as last night. He was wearing he same glasses that he had put on after the blue hour last night. Did midnight somehow fix his vision or something?

I nodded, not being able to say anything. I was in shock; I couldn't believe that it had really happened. There were other people besides me in the blue hour. Wow.

Melissa walked in the door with wet hair. She probably just took a shower.

"Hey," she said, looking relaxed.

"Hey." Maybe we would start to get along after a while. She was already being friendlier than last night.

"You think you will be able to make it to school today?" Rex nodded in my direction.

"I don' t know," I replied, my voice low and raspy. "What time is it?" We all looked at my unlit clock. It read 7:08. It normally took about 25 minutes to ride my bike to school, which started at eight o'clock. The fastest that I could get ready was six minutes. So that put me at 7:39. Plus I would need time to go by my locker. And that still didn't cover the two little problems: I could barely walk, and I had no bike.

"You probably can't make it." Melissa bit her lip and smiled small.

"Could I ride on one of your handlebars?"

"No. You'd get dirt on you. And it would just hurt you worse than you already are." I stared at Rex in disbelief.

"So what! I can take anything! You have obviously not seen me take down a darkling _single handedly_!"

"Well, you did not succeed last night."

"I've done it before! Tons of times!" In my outburst, he looked at me unbelievingly. Without saying it, I knew what he meant.

"I believe you, but this is totally different. You should stay home." Yeah right, I thought, nothing would keep me down!

"Just stay here until school is over. We can come back and give you your homework."

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, "homework... fun." As they stared at me, I kept my gaze moving, going back and forth between the two. I groaned.

"Fine. I'll stay here. But I'm not happy about it." I crossed my arms and nearly smashed my face against my bed as I lost my balance. "Oh!" My arms flew out and Rex dashed over to me. He put one arm arcoss my waist and one on my shoulder. I heard Melissa grit her teeth; I looked over at the girl. Her face was twisted with madness and pain. I sent her a look of sorrow.

"It's fine. I've got it." I told Rex as I made my way to my bed. His arms loosened his grip on me. I sat on my bed, not looking at him._ I don't like him like that. Don't worry. won't get involved if you two are together or something, _I thought, knowing Melissa would hear. I looked at her again. She had replaced the distraught look on her face with surprise. I would have said something to her, but Rex's voice distracted me.

"Sorry... I just... don't want you to get hurt again." Rex looked down as he spoke. Melissa and I gasped. I looked at him wide eyes and my mouth agape.

"Of course! Why not! Just protect the newby!" She spat the word at me. She fumed on. "Whatever. Just leave me out of it! But midnight might not be big enough for the three of us. Maybe I should leave you two alone. Yeah! That would work. Mmhm, yes. I think that should do the trick. So I think tonight I'll just get myself killed by a darkling on purpose." She offered Rex a forced, tortured smile, and turned out the door. I stared after her, still in shock from her small rant. I tried to stand slowly and began to limp to the door. Rex held his hand up towards me. He looked as though he was in pain.

"No. I've got it. I will talk to her," he said. She probably would not have believed me anyway.

"Don't even try it!" Melissa yelled from the hallway. "Just finish getting ready for school." Her head appeared in my shadowed room again. "Your turn in the bathroom anyway." Her face scared me. It was pain covered up with a fake smile. Her eyes told her story. Rex made his way out of the room and turned around after reaching the door.

"Well, I guess we'll bring your homework by later, and we will come back at midnight. Remember: window open." His voice was tinged with an icy coldness that reminded me of the sound Melissa's had last night. His eyes were distant and worried.

"'Kay, bye." Rex nodded and walked out the door, Melissa watching him. After we heard the door to the bathroom close, she walked into my room and slammed the door. She turned to me and her mask no longer existed. I cringed back in horror. Her face was cold and cruel. She looked as though she was about to kill someone. And that someone was obviously me.

"Okay, before you get mad at me--"

"Oh, I'm not mad at you," she said sarcastically. "I just want to let you know something. Me and Rex are best friends. Nothing can change that. Not even you, you little slut." My jaw fell down to the floor.

"There is no way that I am a--"

"Give it up! There is no way that you and Rex are going to end up together." Ooo, the bitch goddess returns. She obviously picked up on my thoughts... "Oh, shut up! You have no right to think that!"

"Look. I never said that I liked him. And I don't like him, for a matter of fact. He's just... a friend, a leader. I'm like one of his few troops. He doesn't want to lose me when we all have a battle to fight. Each of us are important with different talents." I paused and looked at her. Her arms were crossed and she was glaring daggers at me. "He does _not_ like me. Plus it seems that you two have something going on. You're just friends right now. But maybe later in life you're going to be something more. I refuse to get in the middle of that, no matter how much Rex appears to want that." She looked like she was thinking, trying to accept what I was saying. After a moment, her face untwisted. My little speech had worked. I had told the truth, and she had accepted it.

"Fine. I get the point. Your thoughts can shut up now. You won't get in the way. Maybe you are right... I'll say one thing. You know people's emotions a little too well." I frowned and then smiled. "That's not always a good thing though." She pinned her eyes, full of repulsion, on me.  
"Melissa! Come on! We're going to be late!" Rex yelled from the living room. Melissa turned her head to yell back.

"Fine! I was about to come anyway." She turned back again to glare at me. "Just watch yourself tonight. And try to get better. 'Cause I don't want him to have more pity for you tonight." She rolled her eyes and turned around dramatically, her hair flying. Melissa really was the bitch goddess in the flesh. Just before she reached the door, she turned back around. Her eyes were piercing, her nostrils flairing. I held my hands up in defense.

"Hey, it's the way that you're acting." I shrugged, partially surprised at my courage for speaking to her.

"It's because of you that I'm acting this way." Without giving me time to retort, she walked out and slammed the door. I breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Tonight is going to be a long night," I whispered to myself. I leaned back in my bed and tried to calm down. Everything was too quiet. I turned my music on louder than my mom normally let me play it without her yelling at me. I was glad she left early. Still tired, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep. The sunlight still burned; I pulled my comforter over my head in jerky movements. Blackness came over me as I began to lose consciousness. The edges around everything softened and then it all dissappeared.


	7. Nightmare

Ok so sorry I haven't updated in a couple months... We had exams and tons of tests and it's been track season! :] But this is the last week of track... So... And we're on our last day of spring break... So here's a chapter! I made it long! Hope you like it! Here's a reminder. I'll post more frequently if you review it! Please! You keep me going! And I need some people to actually let me know you're even READING!  
Have a good time reading...? :]  
~Liveinthetwilight

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The blackness surrounded me. It was as if I was blind. Sounds of strange animals was all that I could hear. I took a small step forward into the darkness.

Suddenly a small red light appeared under my right foot. I took another step. The light spread. The ground looked as though it was bleeding. Crouching down, I put my palm flat on the ground, holding it there for a moment. When I pulled it back up, a strange black rose sprouted up quickly. I was suprised, but, being myself, I pulled it from the ground and turned it over in my palms.

It was as soft as satin and glinted red in the ominous light. The stem was as dark as possible to still be considered green; the thorns were a red so dark it looked purple-ish black, like a new bruise. To me, the flower was beautiful, in a way that nothing had been to me. Dark things were beautiful. Darkness symbolized strength, confidence, power, agility, swiftness, beauty, and meekness. Maybe some people kept away from me because of that....

I was generally the most athletic person in any PE class, even beating most boys. I carried myself as if I could win over anyone. People feared me. My reflexes were well tuned. I could outrun people on the track team. Guys tended to stop and stare as I walked by, and girls hated me with a passion. (And occasionally I was told that it was because of my looks, my bright yet still dark eyes, shimmery hair, and angular but beautiful face.) After all of that, I would help someone in a heartbeat if they were in trouble, and I never let anything get to my head. I was the image of darkness itself. I was the shadow of the moon, always waiting.

_Ok, so that was corny,_ I thought. _Sounded like a ninja movie or something._ I giggled into the void. Light came from my breath; I gasped and stared at the air that came out of my mouth swirl upwards. It looked like smoke rising from a candle. I blew. The silvery light continued up. Continuing to blow, I tried to watch the sky and walk in order to spread light more. As I stepped, the same red light appeared and black roses popped up under my feet. I looked up, only to find an ominous moon.

It was blood red. I wanted to scream, but remembering the animal noises from earlier, I decided on not waking them up. I clentched my fists; in my left hand I began to feel something hot and sticky. I dropped the rose and whispered.

"Oh! Ow, ow, ow..." I tried to see what it was. I lifted my hand to my lips and felt the warmth spread over my tongue. Making a sour face, I looked stupid. Of course it was blood. I was holding a rose. The thorns had pricked me. I wiped my hand on the ground and tried to make the pain go away. After a moment, I felt a vibration go through my feet. I looked at the spot where my blood was on the black roses. The rose that hurt me was laying on top of others; I picked it up.

The thorns had turned bright red like my blood. It seemed to be emiting some waves to cause the vibrations. I pulled at the petals, wondering if that would do anything. They gave into my tug and came off quickly. I held them all in my palm after a minute. The vibrations had not stopped. Next I tried the thorns. I had learned how to get them off when one of my only friends, who I moved away from, had convinced me to be in an emo clique. I missed everyone in that group, but it seemed like I had found a replacement in Bixby. Immediately after I pulled the last thorn off of the stem, the vibrations ceased.

"What the heck was that?!" I wanted to scream. That was beyond creepy. It was like Melissa was behind it all. I continued to walk and let more light flow to every place.

As compaired to midnight's, the red moon did not hurt my eyes. It was still freaking me out a bit, but mostly because it seemed as though someone had taken one of those jumbo sharpies and colored the purple moon crimson. It made me almost want to jump up and just sniff the moon. ... Just maybe. I chuckled to myself.

"What?" I jumped at the sound of someone else's voice. "What are you laughing at? It's certainly not the fact that your death draws near." Melissa's voice seemed to be coming from right beside me. I turned both ways, but I could not find it. I clutched my head in my hands, feeling like a lunatic.  
"Oh, is there something wrong? Hearing things? It is the sound of you screaming in defeat." I fell to my knees and swallowed a lump in my throat. Biting my tongue, I tried not to yell back at the voice. It was like razers cutting at my ears. Trying to get to my veins. Trying to pull life from me.  
"Go ahead. Fight back. No one is here to watch you die." I took a deep breath in and unclentched my jaw. The taste of blood flew throughout my mouth. Was this place supposed to make you emo? Hah. Hah. Perfect place for Melissa. I sat up on my knees and kept my eyes closed. Using the iron taste of my own blood--how sickening--, I made myself concentrate. I heard an evil laugh that surrounded me. My eyes blinked open, feeling like I was in a tornado.

Over the dark horizon, I saw another red light spreading. Melissa. My eyes opened wide. She was coming; I could feel it in my bones. A dread spread throughout me. I stood up trying to gather strength. If she was coming I had to be ready. Rex was not here to help me. He probably would not be able to anyway.

The shape of a human seemed to form. It was dark and eerie among the red light. _Wait,_ I thought, _what's that?_ There was another shape coming along beside the human shape. The one that I saw first was Melissa, probably. But who was the other one following a little way behind? Looked like short hair. He was wearing glasses, too. It was Rex. _Oh, thank God!_ Relief spread through me.

Melissa's arms were held out and one looked longer than the other. It seemed like in her right hand she had something. As the two approached, my nervousness grew. They looked like they were a good minute away. I used the time to compose myself.

I looked around and wondered if this was the last thing I would ever see. Secretly, I almost wished it was. If my family was to stay in Bixby, I would have to deal with Melissa for life. Unless, like people chose to believe, I committed suicide. I had no plans to whatsoever. I actually had not had many thoughts to take my life away ever. I wanted to live my life.

The red light had almost spread to the entire area. I could tell there was nothing but the black roses on the ground. There were no clouds; all that filled the sky was the strange light from the moon. Looking back at the pair, I could tell that Rex was definately wearing glasses. Which was strange considering he was not wearing any last midnight. Maybe it was something about the different moon.

They were nearly to me, and I was as calm as ever. There was barely any adrenalin running through me. If she was going to hurt me, I would not die very fast. Adrenalin kills people and animals faster. Maybe I wanted to get some into my veins....

"You ready?" Melissa asked with eyes that could kill. I stared at her.

"For what? Oh, let me guess: My death. You really should work on not being so obvious," I said, my sarcastic side taking over. Melissa's face twisted in anger; Rex tried to stifle a laugh. When Melissa turned to face him, I was reminded of a cobra. Her jerky movements; her poison; her hatred; her territorialness.

"Cute. Hope you know how to say things like that when you're in hell." My brain seemed to disconnect from my body. Instincts wanted to attack her. I wanted to kill her. She hated me to death. I'd show her just how serious I could be.

"I'll drag you down with me; I'd never go down without a fight." Rex looked as though he wanted to cheer for me. I looked at him and slightly nodded. He half smiled. I broke into a grin. Melissa jerked forward.

"Are you going to drag him with you instead? I see you value human life." She spat at me, a sign of disgrace. "And you," she turned to Rex, "are going to die as well if you do not stop!" Rex pulled his glasses off and pierced her with his gaze. She looked away as if hurt. His eyes bore holes in her; she could not look upon his hurt expression. Melissa turned back to me and glared. I stared back. Blinking slowly, she moved her hand to her hip where a sheath was strapped to her belt. I felt ashamed that I had not noticed it. I flinched backwards. Putting her hands on the dagger, she looked back up insanely. Her eyes lit up with danger; her smile was demonic; she was going to kill me. I was sure of it.

Slowly she pulled the dagger out of it's sheath and turned it over in her palms.

"Isn't it surprising how much power one person can hold? The lives that one can possess...?" She was surely demented. My muscles begged to run away. I would not show my weakness to Melissa. "Hm... Funny. Power. Why don't I just show you how powerful I really am?"  
"Um, no I don't think that would be goo--" The dagger was plunged into my chest. The pain was horrible. I only felt it for a second. I looked at Rex. His head was hung apologetically. I doubled over in pain and fell to the ground. Melissa towered over me, cackling, as my vision went black. So this was what it felt like to die. I felt sluggish. I hated Melissa. I wished her to hell. After another second, I was gone. I felt nothing. I did not exist anymore.

Even though I did not breathe, I still saw everything. Not from my dead body, but as though I was another person just watching things. Melissa pulled the dagger out of the body that used to belong to me.  
"Don't you just love power?" She said to Rex, still grinning with an evil face.

"Why did you do that? She was one of us."

"Psh, yeah, sure. Besides, she was worthless."

"How could you tell that she was worthless? You never even gave her a second thought. You cannot derive that from a couple minutes." Her stared at her in disbelief. Melissa's mouth dropped open, aghast.

"Well, I could pin this on you the same way. She was not a midnighter! How could you think she was?" She screamed, but somehow Rex remained calm.

"She was in midnight. What else could she have been? Plus, she was a polymath. How else would you explain things. Melissa, I've known you for a while now. I saved your sanity. I think I know you enough. You hate change. You hate people who pose a threat. Dess posed no threat. Melissa... She would not have come between us. She had no intentions of that. I could tell from the first second. She was merely alone and in need of help and friends. I was going to be there for her. Just as friends. Nothing more." He breathed in deeply. Melissa seemed to be absorbing what he had said. "And you know I am right. So, do not try to deny it." Melissa nodded and hung her head in shame.

Rex walked up to my body and stooped over. He picked it up in his arms.  
"You do not want to do that, Rex." He turned.  
"And why is that? Are you going to stop me? I'm going to help her." She just stood there with a bitter face. He walked away, making his own light, his own trail. He walked until Melissa and I could no longer see him. When he was gone she held the dagger again. Blood was dripping from it, my blood. Her palms were red now. She did not looked one bit repulsed.

A sad look crossed her face. It appeared that she was gathering strength. _Strength for... What? What was she about to do? _I thought this over, until I knew what she was going to do.  
"Oh no," I whispered. She could not hear me.

She held the knife out straight in front of her heart. Her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly. Screaming, she plunged the knife through her skin to her heart. She gasped and yelled in pain. She crumpled to the flowers. The thorns pierced her arms and legs, causing more pain.

"I'm sorry, Rex." She used her last breath to apologize. She realized that what she had done to me was wrong. But now Rex would be in pain and blaming himself. He would be all alone. I felt bad for him. Why was he left alone? He was the best out of the three of us. He should not be left to endure the pain of losing his only other two midnighters alone.

I screamed for him. I screamed for Melissa. I screamed for me. We were a pitiful group made to endure much pain. But what did it all mean if there was now only one person that was left to overcome everything? I kept screaming until tears crept down my pale cheeks.

I sat up in my bed, still clutching the covers. My heart was pounding harder than ever. I touched my face and felt the hot tears.

It was just a dream. There was nothing to fear... Except it coming true. I would never let that happen. I would make sure that Rex, Melissa, and I made it through all of the midnights. I would never let a midnighter die. Never would that happen. Someone would have to kill me to get to them. And I would never die without trying.


End file.
